Thread by @jedshug

THREAD/Timeline on the significance of #Qatar as alleged intermediary between Russia and Trump through Dec'16 Rosneft sale (from #SteeleDossier, revelations about Qatar-backed $184M loan to Kushner, and now from @MichaelAvenatti). 1/

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2/ This timeline builds on the piece I wrote in March about Kushner and Qatar: #SteeleDossier alleges that in Summer 2016, Russia made a deal to sell 19% of fossil fuel giant Rosneft, then secretly funnel commissions to Trump insiders in exchange for sanctions relief...

Dec.1,'16: Flynn & Kushner met Kislyak at Trump Tower, propose a secret link with Kremlin thru Russian embassy.
Dec.8: Russia sells 19% of Rosneft to Qatar.
Dec.12: Today's allegation from @MichaelAvenatti: Qatari diplomat met Cohen & Flynn. Coincidence?
slate.com/news-and-polit…

Dec. 13: Kushner met Gorkov, chiar of VE Bank, Putin’s “private slush fund,” & under strict U.S. sanctions.
Dec. 14: Gorkov flies to Japan to meet with Putin.
Dec. 29: Obama orders new Russia sanctions
On the same day: Flynn calls Kislyak five times about Russian sanctions.

January 2017: As we learned last week, Vekselberg, Russian oligarch under sanctions, starts paying Michael Cohen. He later benefits from Trump sabotaging those sanctions.
Also in January, Inauguration Day, Flynn texts associates about their profits when Trump lifts sactions.

Also in Jan. 2017: Steele Dossier published. Qatar had already made the Rosneft deal. Do they suddenly realize that their deal has been exposed? Cold feet?
Kushner reportedly escalates a Gulf crisis in April'17. To pressure Qatar to complete deal? slate.com/news-and-polit…

A few months later, as @nytimes reported, Apollo Global lent $184 million to Kushner, an "unusual" size for the firm. "One of the largest investors in Apollo is Qatar."
Kushner is in desperate financial trouble. (See 666 5th Ave, $1.8B disaster).

And coincidentally, after Congress almost unanimously passes tough new sanctions on Russia, the Trump administration delays, obstructs, and sabotages those sanctions. We've seen Russian quid. We've seen Trump's pro quo. Is there a link? slate.com/news-and-polit…

Just to be clear, I don't know if @MichaelAvenatti's allegations tonight are true. But 1) I'm just putting those Qatar links in context, and 2) Even without today's news, the public record already established significant evidence of massive bribery conspiracy.

I've been asked to make sense of Carter Page's role. He's careless and nutty, so the Trumpers seem to have cut him loose by Dec. 2016. He probably knew the deal is on, so he shows up in Russia in Dec.'16 desperate to get back in. But Flynn/Kushner seem to have moved on w/o him.

Here's my original blogpost from June 2, 2017 on the Qatar/Rosneft/Flynn/Kushner links. The Qatari diplomat met Cohen and Flynn at a key moment. Flynn has made a deal with Mueller. Cohen is on the hook for a long list of fed and state crimes... shugerblog.com/2017/06/02/kus…

Overlooked detail: Dec. 7, 2016: Russia announced sale of 19.5% of state energy giant Rosneft ($11 billion). Russia makes sure to *conceal* identity of the buyers. Only later revealed to be Qatar and Glencore. reuters.com/article/us-rus…

Odd financial twist: Russia later bought back a significant amount of the 19.5% stake. Why? Russia claimed that its intent was that the sale was a temporary measure to bring in cash, like a loan. I offer a different explanation... marketwatch.com/story/russia-t…

Maybe the sale/buy-back plan was a way to create a paper transaction to generate commissions that could be paid without detection or regulation to Trump associates? 19.5% seems to be designed to fly under 20% threshold on reporting regs, easing the way for shady transactions...